What Does Hallelujah Mean?
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Hallelujah is an interjection that has been accepted into the English language. The word stems from the standard Hebrew word, Halleluya, which loosely translates to mean “Praise God.” The Latin form of the word Hallelujah is Alleluia, which is the form most Catholics prefer. For Christians, the term Hallelujah is considered a joyful expression of praise to God.
The word Hallelujah is found in the Old Testament of the Bible in the Book of Psalms on several counts. The Book of Psalms is considered a poetic book, filled with religious songs and poetry. On several counts, the word Hallelujah begins and concludes a number of Psalms. In many Christian churches, preachers are heard using the interjection, often shouting “Hallelujah! Praise God!” which could be considered redundant. However, Hallelujah is also used sometimes in conjunction with “Amen,” which is used to express agreement.
In the Catholic church, the Latin form, Alleluia, is a response given during the Roman Mass that is half sung, half chanted. In music, Hallelujah is a song expressing praise based on the definition, however, two popular pieces of music – “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen and “Alleluia” by Randall Thompson – are both somewhat sorrowful in sound. Cohen’s Hallelujah has been recorded and featured in a number of television and movie scores including Shrek, Gray’s Anatomy, House, and the episode of Third Watch that dealt with September 11th.
Though the popular lyrics of Cohen’s Hallelujah are equivocal, there are some verses that clearly and explicitly reference the Bible and people from it including David, Samson, and even God. The song does not seem to imply a joyful expression of praise, however. There are many older hymns that contain the word Hallelujah in praise. Many people of no religious affiliation at all sometimes utter a casual “Hallelujah” in reference to an occurrence that is exceptionally good.
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Hallelujah means to "Praise Jah" The tetragrammaton in hebrew is Jehovah. Tetragrammaton (from Greek meaning "having four letters"),[1] refers to the Hebrew term that is the personal name of God in the Holy Bible.
This word is composed of four Hebrew consonants, and it occurs 6,828 times in the approved consonantal Hebrew text of the Bible.[2][3] Jehovah is an English reading of the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton(transliterated as YHWH), the principal and personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). - anon37969
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Actually, there have been hundreds of years of falsehood about this word. Jesus never used it nor did the apostles and early Christians for at least 100 years. There is no record of its use. John wrote the book of Revelation around 100AD and it is allegedly first found in chapter 20 as "alleluia". Catholics claim use of this proves the heavenly language is Latin. Some dictionaries claim it comes from the Greek allelouia. Because of the looks of the word some say it means all hail + ia or ya or yah, hence all hail or praise to Yah, who is claimed to be Jehovah or Yahweh.
Some claim it comes from Hebrew hallelujah and said to mean praise the Lord, praise God, or praise Yah: meaning Jehovah or Yahweh.
But in the Hebrew halal, Strongs #1984 means to be clear, i.e. transparent, to shine. And in research concerning ia (eea) + ea, ya or yah, we discover an connection to a god of Babylon and the moon god of Egypt. Halal + ia would then mean shine god or shine moon god. How shine can be manipulated into the word praise is subject to anyone's imagination.
Praise is first used in Genesis 29:35 as yadah. From this Leah named ner child Yehuwadah or Judah. Judah means then praise.
We have now a praise word used in Hebrew and another Hebrew word meaning to shine.
Whence then came halal, to shine as a praise?
It is first used in Judges 16:24 where the Philistines, in celebration to the deliverance of Sampson into their hands, decided to give worship to Dagan their god. It is here preserved in the Hebrew text that the Philistines desired to praise Dagan their god with the use of halal.
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands. And when the people saw him, they praised (halal) their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
It was after this pagan celebration the Israelites borrowed halal and adapted it to the true God. And it is after this, halal came to mean praise which we are unable to determine. We do not know how this was transferred over to worship of God but we believe it was by those who went astray worshipping strange gods. And when they came back to God they brought this pagan useage.
See also praise in Hebrew as barak Strongs #1288.
Correctly, Leah named Judah Yehuwadah. In this name, Yeh is a contraction of Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, with Yeh used to represent the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many Jewish names began with Yeh of as we now know it in English as Jeh.
How then can those in heaven praise "yah" when this was the name of a false god?
It appears there has been a corruption of the text in the book of Revelation where the Latin use was interpolated and then an attempt to backward translate this into Greek.
Since Jesus is the highest name above all names, the proper praise to him would be:
Praise Jesus, or Yadah Jesus, or hallelu-Jesus, or hallelu-yeh or hallelu-jeh.
One thing is certain, if a praise used for Dagon makes its way into heaven to praise God, it will be unlike God to accept it. - anon37270
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Those who follow a theology of the cross might look at Cohen's words of Hallelujah as more uplifting. As opposed to a theology of Glory, a theology of the cross is a Christian witness that reminds us that we meet God on the hard roads of life. That Jesus meets us at the cross which is a symbol of pain and death. And that indeed it is at the moment where we say "Praise God!" - anon29774
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anon18766 is right -- technically, hallelujah means "praise Jah", which is a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God, Jehovah, Yahweh, or whatever it is in your language. That is why Jehovah's Witnesses are actually correct in their interpretation of the name of the Biblical God being Jehovah. - anon23243
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Halleluyah, does not mean praise god....It means praise ye yah!!! Which is the highest form of praise.(Yhwh) - anon18766
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While you're mentioning Cohen and Thompson, don't forget to mention the Hallelujah chorus, part of Handel's Messiah. - anon510
Editor's reply: Good addition! Thanks!
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